Guidelines for Gender and Conflict-sensitive Reporting

Authors/editor(s): Monica Ellena, Olena Honchar

The media plays a key role in shaping public attitudes, including perceptions about women and men. Gender-sensitive reporting shuns stereotypes that limit and trivialize women and men to present an accurate portrait of the world and its possibilities. The news coverage of armed conflicts is profoundly gendered and largely male-dominated. Men are asked to explain and interpret the conflict in many different roles: as combatants, warlords, experts, and politicians. Women’s opinions, on the other hand, are rarely asked and if they are, it is usually from the perspective of victims. Integrating a gender lens into conflict reporting involves respecting the key standards of journalistic professionalism which impartially presents verified information in a fair and balanced context, gives voice to marginalised actors, and shuns gender stereotypes.

The National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine supported the preparation of the Guidelines on Gender and Conflict-sensitive reporting. UA: Public Broadcasting Company is the first Ukrainian independent broadcasting company that serves and is solely accountable to the civil society. Its mission is to secure freedoms of Ukraine and provide credible and balanced information about the country and the world. This publication has been produced by the UN Women Ukraine project “Gender equality at the center of reforms, peace and security”, funded by the Government of Sweden.